


Six-Sentence Stories

by voicedimplosives



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Prompt Fill, Tumblr Prompt, five sentence fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-08-08 10:42:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 9,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voicedimplosives/pseuds/voicedimplosives
Summary: Pretty much what it says on the label! Somebody suggested to me that I post these five-sentence[and sometimes six because I cheated]prompt fills from Tumblr onto AO3, so I have done just that.





	1. Index

Hello! This first chapter is an index for the first-sentence prompts I have filled. These are all **Reylo** unless otherwise specified. Hope you enjoy!

 

  * Chapter 2: **["There really is so much green here," Rey says to Irena, before gently blowing into her mug to cool her steaming tea.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38463836) ** [from [destinieswritten](http://destinieswritten.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 3: **["I think your cat followed me home."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38463950)**  [from [ever-so-reylo](https://ever-so-reylo.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 4: **[There were bruises in the aftermath.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38463977) ** [from [mnemehoshiko](http://mnemehoshiko.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 5: **["If only you knew."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38464094)**  [from [delia-pavorum](https://delia-pavorum.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 6: **["Well... that didn't go quite as planned."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38464280#workskin)**  [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 7: [Finnlo+Rey]  **["Look, I'm not even going to ask why you made me a Tinder profile... I'm not going to ask how you got those pictures... what I want to know is, *why* did you swipe right on THEM?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38464364#workskin) ** [from [trixie-ren](https://trixie-ren.tumblr.com/)]



 

  *  Chapter 8: **["What were you doing last night, and how the HELL did your glitter end up in my tea?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38464496#workskin)**  [from Anonymous]




 

  * Chapter 9: [vaguely NSFW] **[Rey was so exhausted, she barely had the strength to pull on her robe.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38464625#workskin)** [from [millyslitterbox](https://millyslitterbox.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 10: **["Roads are closed until the morning, so I guess we'll have to stay here for the night."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38464673#workskin)** [from Anonymous]




 

  * Chapter 11: **["I think I love you."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38464910#workskin)**  [from [luminousreylo](http://luminousreylo.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 12: **[“Rey...” Ben started, then hesitated, puffing out his mouth. “Do you remember kissing me last night?”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38465201#workskin)** [from [quixoticlux](http://quixoticlux.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 13: **["do you want the orange or the blue toothbrush?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38467352#workskin)**  [from [selunchen](https://selunchen.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 14: **[Ben rested his hand on her forehead.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38467367#workskin)** [from [bunilicious](http://bunilicious.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 15: [NSFW] **["It's not the force, it's the flowers... and I don't think I can hold back much longer..."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38467493#workskin)** [from [trixie-ren](https://trixie-ren.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 16:  **["I've never done this before."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38467607#workskin)** [from [bunilicious](http://bunilicious.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 17: **[Ben looked at her softly and whispered, “You... love me?”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38467805#workskin)** [from [baldoren](http://baldoren.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 18: **[“Ben stared at the determined face of his daughter.”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38467829#workskin)** [from [semperfidani](http://semperfidani.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 19: **["If you bite me, we're going to have a problem," Rey hisses.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38470046#workskin)**  [from [sevensneakyfoxes](http://sevensneakyfoxes.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 20: **[“Go rally the troops; it’s time to get our game on.”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38550926)**  [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 21:  **["What are we telling the press?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38550986#workskin)**  [from [oh-adam](https://oh-adam.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 22: **["How exactly do you misplace a baby, Ben?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38550965#workskin)**  [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 23 **:[“So Rey...” Ben rubbed the back of his head, his puppy-brown eyes looking up at her sheepishly. “Remember that fake-wedding we had for the play? Turns out it was a real minister, so... funny story... we’re actually married.”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38551229#workskin) ** [from [quixoticlux](http://quixoticlux.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 24:  **["I wish you wouldn't."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38551259#workskin)**  [from [delia-pavorum](https://delia-pavorum.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 25: **[In hindsight, it shouldn't have been a surprise they were expecting twins.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38610965)**  [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 26: **[Rey stared at her arch-nemesis Ben Solo, the genius who just trapped them in a supply closet with a busted lock, a floor above where anyone could hear them](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38610980#workskin)** **.** [from [quixoticlux](http://quixoticlux.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 27: **["He doesn't use that name anymore."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38611001#workskin)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 28: **[“So, what can I get you to drink?” Rey asks. “Does beer or a cocktail interest you?”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38611151#workskin) ** [from [baldoren](http://baldoren.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 29: [slightly NSFW] **[The Sith were no wiser than the Jedi.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38670578)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 30: **[This, Kylo thought to himself, was his comeuppance for indulging the sand rat.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38888870) ** [from [hskdy](http://hskdy.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 31: **["Don't apologize... I'm glad it was you."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38889272#workskin)**  [from [seccasaurus](https://seccasaurus.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * [NSFW-ish] **[Violent weather seemed to be their moments of serenity.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38889272#workskin)** [from [rosylipsandcheeks](http://rosylipsandcheeks.tumblr.com/)]



 

  * Chapter 32: **[“I think it was just meant to be.”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38888933#workskin) ** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 33: [NSFW]  **["My name is Ben, and I'm an addict."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38889044#workskin)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 34: **[Rey didn’t even know what this convention was about: she was here for the free coffee and food.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38889356#workskin)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 35: [ **It would be the perfect end to her night if the asshole in the black turtleneck decided to press charges.**](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38889386#workskin)[from Anonymous]



 

  * **["I'm not explaining anything to you."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38889386#workskin)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 36: [NSFW, A/B/O] **[“And then in the end, I found you.”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38889893#workskin)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 37: **["Too much cake."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38928911#workskin)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 38: [ _[go i know not whither and fetch i know not what](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481504/chapters/33453111)_ -universe] **[“This wasn’t part of the plan.”](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/38928980#workskin) ** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 39: [ _[go i know not whither and fetch i know not what](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481504/chapters/33453111)_ -universe] **["That is a terrible, horrible, incredibly foolish idea. Let's do it and see what happens."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/39601282)** [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 40: [this is an odd one, WinterShock Reylo AU] **["Does it conduct electricity?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/39601483#workskin)**  [from Anonymous]



 

  * Chapter 41: **["Why? Why not?"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16427831/chapters/39601684#workskin)** [from [leofgyth](https://leofgyth.tumblr.com/)]




	2. "There really is so much green here," Rey says to Irena, before gently blowing into her mug to cool her steaming tea.

**"There really is so much green here," Rey says to Irena, before gently blowing into her mug to cool her steaming tea.**

 

Irena nods, and her gaze drifts out over the veranda towards the meadow, where Ben is teaching Venya the finer points of swordsmanship. “We had to fight so hard, Venya and me, to make it to this place.” **  
**

 

“The good things are worth fighting for, I think.” The words are softly spoken in the key of longing, but when Rey’s eyes follow Irena’s to the men, a smile tugs at her lips.

 

“To things worth fighting for,” Irena declares, mug extended so that Rey can touch its side with her own; she does, and the ‘clink’ echoes the ‘clang’ of the men’s clashing swords, the sounds resonating in the peaceful afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is faintly adjacent to [destinies'](https://archiveofourown.org/users/destinies/pseuds/destinies) and my crossover AU, [The Commander and the Cook](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15686037/chapters/36446091)! (which is in and of itself an AU of our two separate AU's, [Tactical Surrender](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13183992/chapters/30156201) and [go i know not whither and fetch i know not what](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481504/chapters/33453111)) XD


	3. "I think your cat followed me home."

**"I think your cat followed me home."**

 

BB-8, so named by Ben many years ago in a futile attempt to stay emotionally unattached to the overweight orange tabby, offers up a self-satisfied ‘meow’, from the girl’s arms. **  
**

 

She’s pretty, a tall reed of a woman with soft cheeks that dimple when she gives him a sunny smile. Ben’s noticed her around his apartment complex for months now, and he’s been dying for an excuse to strike up a conversation with her.

 

 _Looks like the old slug still has a few tricks left,_  he thinks, catching BB-8’s faint purr.

 

He blushes under her amused gaze, but when she laughs out, “I don’t suppose he’s trying to tell us something?”… well, he can’t help but laugh too.


	4. There were bruises in the aftermath.

**There were bruises in the aftermath.**

 

Of course, when the day started with cavorting around an island of slippery, rocky cliffs, then progressed to a deep dive into a cave lake, shipping herself in an escape pod onto the enemy’s  _Mega_ -class Dreadnought, a fight to the death with a band of eight elite personal bodyguards, and finally, finished with a starship dogfight… bruises were to be expected. **  
**

 

 _Still_ , thought Rey, wincing as she curled up in a bunk aboard the Millennium Falcon, her eyes on Ben– who stared back at her from across the galaxy and also from across the bed–  _she wasn’t the only one who looked worse for the wear._

 

Slowly, cautiously, he unclenched the fist resting beside his prone body; his fingers stretched towards her like the limbs of a Tuanulberry bush seeking sunlight.

 

Slowly, cautiously, she slid her hand across the mattress, until the tips of her fingers made soft, electric contact with his.

 

And there were still bruises, after they’d touched, but there was also  _this_ , and it didn’t need words, not yet, and it was something, something more than bruises, something that would survive long after the contusions had faded and the other wounds had healed.


	5. "If you only knew." [Attempt #1 and #2]

**Attempt #1**

**“If only you knew.”  
**

 

“I do, though,” she says.

 

“And you still chose them.”

 

A weary sigh, like the softening of resolve, like the lowering of defenses, like the grieving of battles lost, and then: “I’m right here, Ben, talking to  _you_.”

 

She is, he can think of nothing to refute that and yet, as he often does, he chooses the absence of words to express himself.

 

That absence becomes a silent presence between them, like a slow creeping vine of remorse, like a hot upsurge of shame, like a stampede of bullish indignation; his chambers grow crowded with all their ghosts, and he wants desperately to say something that will make them scatter, but before he can… she is gone.

 

 

 

** Attempt #2 **

**“If only you knew.”**

 

“Hm?” asks Rey, adjusting her bra beneath her t-shirt before reaching for a cardigan to pull on over it.

 

Ben stands in the doorway, arms crossed, watching her; a normal morning idyll– the coffee is ready, her toast is, well, toasting, he’s made the bed they awoke in together, slept in together, made love in together…

 

“How much I love this–love you.”

 

“I know, I feel it too,” she assures him, sending a fond smile his way, “but you should feel free to remind me whenever you want.”

 

“Gladly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE FIRST ONE WAS TOO ANGSTY AND IT MADE ME SAD SO I HAD TO TRY AGAIN


	6. “Well... that didn’t go quite as planned.”

**“Well... that didn’t go quite as planned.”**

 

Ben’s usually rich baritone is distorted through the oxygen mask and hazmat suit he’s wearing to protect himself from the toxic gases of Twon Ketee, and it sounds so similar to his old battle helmet’s vocabulator that Rey must look up from the pit of unmoving Rathtars to assure herself he is still… him. **  
**

 

She finds him grinning rakishly, can see it beneath the cast-plast shell over his mouth, and she gives a slight huff of relief.

 

“How were  _we_ supposed to know they’re so sensitive to sleeping gas?” she retorts, returning his grin.

 

“True,” he concedes, “but the General is  _not_ going to be happy we killed her base sentinels.”

 

With a chuckle, Rey moves to ease herself down the root-covered side of the pit, throwing back behind her: “Oh come on, they’re not dead, they’re only unconscious, and  _I’ll_  deal with your mother, Solo… you just figure out how we’re gonna get one of these things on-board, okay?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I STILL FEEL LIKE THE LOGIC OF THIS ONE BREAKS DOWN UPON FURTHER REFLECTION BECAUSE LIKE... WOULDN'T THEY _WANT_ THE RATHTARS TO BE KNOCKED OUT? WOULDN'T THAT BE THE PLAN? SO WHY WOULD BEN SAY THAT THE EVENTS HADN'T GONE AS PLANNED?
> 
> but then again maybe i'm just overthinking this and i need to go outside for a while
> 
> shrug


	7. [Finnlo+Rey] "Look, I'm not even going to ask why you made me a Tinder profile... I'm not going to ask how you got those pictures... what I want to know is, *why* did you swipe right on THEM?"

**"Look, I'm not even going to ask why you made me a Tinder profile... I'm not going to ask how you got those pictures... what I want to know is, *why* did you swipe right on THEM?"**

 

Rey holds up her phone; on the screen is a picture of a male couple, purportedly named Finn and Kylo. **  
**

 

They’re in search of a third.

 

“You need some fun and excitement in your life,” sniffs Jessika, “and they look  _very_  fun.”

 

She turns the phone back towards herself, and studies the two undeniably attractive men in question.

 

After a beat, she giggles, just a little, then says, “One date… just to… see… if we connect.”


	8. "What were you doing last night, and how the HELL did your glitter end up in my tea?"

**"What were you doing last night, and how the HELL did your glitter end up in my tea?"**

 

Rey stares down into her alarmingly glittery cup of Early Grey; even from the faded floral living room sofa, can hear Rose and Finn– still a little drunk, she thinks– giggling in the kitchen.

 

Beside her, Ben closes his eyes, then lets slip a weak, hungover groan. “No more 90’s-themed club nights for me… so many cosmos…”

 

“I still don’t really understand why you went out with them in the first place,” she says, placing the tea on the end table when he keels over, his head in her lap, then adds, “you should’ve stayed in and watched  _Antiques Roadshow_  with me, it was a brilliant episode.”

 

Gently, she rubs his scalp, and after a while he cracks one eye open, muttering: “Wanted to get in good with them… like the Spice Girls say, ‘if you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends’, right?”

 

Chuckling, she presses a kiss to his temple, then whispers, “You’re a good boyfriend, Ben… now, how ‘bout I make you a cup of chamomile… unless, don’t tell me you got glitter in that tin too?”


	9. [vaguely NSFW] Rey was so exhausted, she barely had the strength to pull on her robe.

**Rey was so exhausted, she barely had the strength to pull on her robe.**

 

But she  _did_  manage to, somehow, because the door wasn’t going to answer itself, nor was the delivery kid just going to leave the pizza on the front stoop. **  
**

 

Eying the fifty on the dresser, she contemplated folding it into an airplane and throwing it down at them, and wondered whether the kid might bring the pizza up to their bedroom if she did so.

 

“Want me to get it?” asked Ben, equally exhausted, sprawled out on the rumbled sheets, wearing nothing but a come-hither look.

 

“No, it’s fine… but you better believe you’re going to make it up to me.”

 

“Sure,” he said, with a satisfied air, “you eat your meal, and then… I’ll eat mine.”


	10. "Roads are closed until the morning, so I guess we'll have to stay here for the night."

**"Roads are closed until the morning, so I guess we'll have to stay here for the night."**

 

Ben looks around the dingy motel lobby, then back at the slender brunette; she picked him up a few hours ago on route seventeen outside of Mattawa, headed east, and the snow’s been steadily picking up since then. Rey– that was the name she gave him, anyway– finally relented and pulled into this shithole, once she realized her ancient sedan couldn’t handle the white-out blizzard conditions on the road. **  
**

 

Outside, the wind’s ominous howling seems to tick up another couple decibels.

 

“Only one room left,” says the bored woman sitting behind the desk, “and it’s a queen-size bed.”

 

It’s a lot to ask, that she share her room with not only a strange man but a hitchhiker, yet when Rey turns to look at him, he finds that her expression is neither wary nor reluctant; in fact, the look she gives him is heated, appraising and after a couple beats… he thinks it might just be approving.

 

“We’ll take it,” she tells the woman, with a decided nod, though her eyes remain locked on his.


	11. "I think I love you."

**"I think I love you."**

 

“You think?” asks Rey, hip cocked, brow arched. **  
**

 

And shit, what he wants to say is:  _Rey, we’re only seventeen; Rey, I’m terrified you’re gonna realize just how out of my league you are once we go off to college; Rey, what if you’re the one for me and I fuck this all up?_

 

But Ben’s not good with being open like that, although with Rey he thinks he might be, one day, so he just shrugs, and rasps out, “I am, I know it.”

 

She chews her bottom lip for so long he’s tempted to lean in and chew it for her, because this lull between them has grown mortifying, but before he can– she cracks a wide, beaming smile.

 

“I think I love you too, dum-dum,” she says, calmly, “now, help me finish packing up the car, and then let’s talk Halloween plans, yeah?”


	12. “Rey...” Ben started, then hesitated, puffing out his mouth. “Do you remember kissing me last night?”

**“Rey...” Ben started, then hesitated, puffing out his mouth. “Do you remember kissing me last night?”**

 

 _Well, shit._  Rey couldn’t believe it; all these years of playing it cool around the roommate with whom she’d been in love practically since the day she moved in, and she’d blown it all with some sloppy, sloshed attempt at a kiss.

 

“Er… sort of?” she tried for, but the look he gave her was so wounded, so raw, that she immediately course-corrected with: “Not… really, Ben, I’m so sorry, I’ve just… had this  _thing_ for you for so long and I promised myself not to make a big deal out of it and that I’d just be happy that we’re friends and that you’re, you know, my person, and I think you’re so interesting, even when you get all moody and weird you still just always somehow make me feel so comfortable and I– I love–”

 

“You… have a thing too?” he cut in, sounding surprised, and wonderstruck, and pleased, “and… you… love…?”

 

“Maybe,” she admitted, and the look he gave her was so jubilant, so hopeful, that she immediately added, “Do you think we could, I dunno, try that again– the kissing thing, I mean?”


	13. "do you want the orange or the blue toothbrush?"

**"do you want the orange or the blue toothbrush?"**

 

The question was the culmination of months and months of work-that-didn’t-feel-like-work– of dinners cooked, of long evenings spent listening and sharing, of movies watched together while lolling around on her old couch, of rainy afternoons spent in bed, fucking and napping and reading passages from their favorite books to one another, of sunny mornings spent walking through the park hand-in-hand, of whispered late-night confessions, their deepest fears, their greatest hopes, and all of it, every second of it– it seemed to bring him to this moment. **  
**

 

Rey shot him a cautious smile, guarded but more open every day, and then wiggled the toothbrushes she held in each hand.

 

“Whichever,” he whispered, barely able to speak over through the roaring earth-shattering victory of this moment; Rey was offering him a toothbrush, because she trusted him, because she wanted him to have his  _own,_  here in her bathroom, because she was letting him into her life, one detail at a time.

 

She seemed to sense it too, the weight of her decision, because her voice was hushed and it trembled ever so slightly when she declared: “Blue, then… because you make me feel less so, when you’re around.”


	14. Ben rested his hand on her forehead.

**Ben rested his hand on her forehead.**

 

Rey still remembered the first time he’d done this. They’d been on different sides of a war then, a war she’d never dreamed in all her lonely years on Jakku that she would be a part of, a war that she’d taken up as her own in the way she did everything– with passion, and fury– and a war that she’d won… in time. **  
**

 

And now, all these long but no-longer-lonely years later, when he rested his wrinkled hand on her wizened forehead like this, it was not an invasion, and he was not an enemy– it was an exchange, just another line in the dialogue they’d been sharing for decades, and he was  _her_ Ben.

 

“See something you like?” she teased, sending a salacious memory or two his way.

 

“I always do,” he replied, soft, reverent, “I always have.”


	15. [NSFW] "It's not the force, it's the flowers... and I don't think I can hold back much longer..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning: this one features sex pollen and dubious consent.**

**"It's not the force, it's the flowers... and I don't think I can hold back much longer..."**

 

All around them, a rapturous explosion of life is blossoming; from the towering trees swing twisting vines that sag under the weight of their neon-hued blooms, and on the forest floor, they form a thick lush carpet, and the smell,  _by the stars_ , the smell is like nothing her desert nose has ever inhaled, a symphony of flora and pheromones that sets her heart thundering, the fabric of her underwear quickly becoming messy with slick. **  
**

 

“Touch me,” she gasps, peering up at him– so big, so tall and so broad and so  _big_ ,  _touchmewhyaren’tyoutouchingmeineedyou_ – and then he’s on her, around her, everywhere, all at once…

 

Everything, his mouth on hers, his arms holding her so tight against his strong body, her clit is on fire,  _this is everything_ – there’s nothing else, there never was, or she can’t remember it, or it doesn’t matter.

 

“Before– before I can’t think anymore– I can feel it in me, I can’t fight it Rey, I can’t– just… promise me you’ll still be here when it’s over… promise me this is more than just the flowers,  _please_ ,” he begs, cock like an iron bar against her belly, panting into her mouth.

 

She needs this, her whole being has been whittled down to just her throbbing empty cunt, so she corrals the last of her firing synapses and grits out, “I promise Ben, I promise, just…  _please_ … fuck me…” 


	16. "I've never done this before."

**"I've never done this before."**

 

“It’s just a ‘fresher, Rey,” he says, gentle, mild, careful not to insult her. **  
**

 

“Not a high demand for those on Jakku.” She extends her hand towards the spray, and sighs deeply when the warm water wets her fingers, then adds, as an afterthought, “Just rubbed myself down with a pumice stone and then some nightblossoms, after.”

 

He burns; he burns for her, he burns for the severe life she has led and cautiously, trying not to seem lascivious, he offers, “I could get in with you.”

 

“What, you think I can’t handle this on my own?” she snaps, and he’s done it now, he’s insulted her, so wordlessly he shakes his head, trying to give voice to the shape of his need– to make her life better, easier,  _more_ –

 

She thaws; she thaws for him, she thaws for the void he has carried inside himself all his life, and– sighing, shyly– she nods, and takes his hand, and tugs him with her, towards the water.


	17. Ben looked at her softly and whispered, “You... love me?”

**Ben looked at her softly and whispered, “You... love me?”**

 

Rey couldn’t help but huff at that, she’d figured it was obvious; she’d all but said it with her actions, in everything she did for him every day of their lives… hadn’t she? **  
**

 

But here he was in her bed, their naked bodies flush and flushed, looking at her with surprised awe after she’d let the words slip, just as things were heating up.

 

“Of course,” she assured him, “Of  _course_ I love you, Benjamin Solo.”

 

“I love you, too.”

 

“I know you do, but… will you show me how much?” she asked, with an inviting smile, and so he did just that– in their bed and out of it, with his actions, in everything he did for her, every day, for the rest of their lives.


	18. Ben stared at the determined face of his daughter.

**Ben stared at the determined face of his daughter.**

 

Hanna was about one minute away from stomping her foot, and not long after that, the screaming would begin; he knew all too well how this worked, by now. **  
**

 

“She gets that from you,” noted Rey, lightly, before swooping in to pull the four-year-old up into her arms.

 

“Think again, sweetheart– that squinty frown thing is  _all_ you.”

 

“We can debate the finer points of her inherited traits later,” she said through gritted teeth, as Hanna began to wail, “but right now, can you  _please_ go get her stuffed wampa?”

 

“Happily,” he murmured, pressing a soft kiss to Rey’s temple and a less-soft squeeze to her behind, “and I’m looking forward to that…  _debate_.”


	19. "If you bite me, we're going to have a problem," Rey hisses.

**"If you bite me, we're going to have a problem," Rey hisses.**

 

“Mmm, but I’m so…  _hungry_ ,” Kylo moans, as he leans towards her, incisors already lengthening; he runs his tongue over them, pleased with the feel of their deadly sharp points.

 

“We’re in the middle of a case, Ren, and I’m  _driving_ … kind of need my wits about me, at the moment,” she grits out, knuckles white on the steering wheel; yet despite the sharpness in her usually lilting voice, he finds that she doesn’t pull his face away from her neck, when he buries it there and breathes deeply of her soap-sweet skin, and beneath it, the coursing blood that sings to him.

 

“Just a little nibble,” he says, a needy rasp.

 

“Ugh, would you–  _fuck_ yes right there– alright,” she pauses, panting, eyes trained on the road, and tugs on his hair until he looks up at her, “here’s the deal… we’ll catch this killer, then we’ll hole up back at my place for a week with some frozen pizzas for me, a few dozen blood bags from the bank for you, and my bed, for us…  _deal?”_

 

He cannot keep the satisfaction out of his voice as he nuzzles his nose under her jaw, and purrs:

 

“Deal.”


	20. “Go rally the troops; it’s time to get our game on.”

**“Go rally the troops; it’s time to get our game on.”**

 

How far they have come, by June of 2015, she and him, past their painful misunderstandings, past all that is past, that they can stand among the forest-hemmed cabins of Camp Sweetwood, warm summer sun shining down on them and mosquitoes buzzing their ears, wrapped in each other’s embrace, his lips brushing her hair, and flirt like this. **  
**

 

“ _Ooooh_ ,” taunt the girls of Lark cabin, Rey’s girls, but she doesn’t  _care_ that she’s blushing, that this is a bolder display of public affection than they should be showing, and she thinks he doesn’t care  _either_ , because he pulls her body flush with his, tilts her chin up with one finger, and claims her mouth for a sweet, chaste kiss.

 

When they come up for air, she hears a young feminine voice, Hayden maybe, cry out, “Enough cavorting with the enemy, Rey, we have a  _flag_ to capture!”

 

“All’s fair in love and war!” Ben shouts back at them, laughing… and she should go, it’s time to get the game started, she really  _does_ need to rally her team, but instead, when he leans in for another soft slow kiss, she bunches up his cotton t-shirt in her fists to bring him closer.

 

And when they finally, reluctantly move away from each other, she says, “I’ll see you on the other side,” and he beams at her, and she beams right back, because it’s true, and because they both know the truth: they’re already  _on_ the other side; they have crawled their way back from the purgatory of their mutual exile of each other, and she knows– deep down, she knows– they can survive anything, together.

 

Anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for this one the very generous [strawberrycupcake_huckleberrypie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberrycupcake_huckleberrypie/pseuds/strawberrycupcake_huckleberrypie) permitted me to play in the sandbox of her wonderful summercamp AU, [nevermind i'll find someone like you](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14902328/chapters/34515677), which i highly recommend! it gets me right in the nostalgia feels, and the love story is very swoon-worthy <3


	21. "What are we telling the press?"

**"What are we telling the press?"**

 

“The press?” Rey echoes, feeling adrift, so she looks to Ben, whom she has just successfully sneaked, without discovery, onto the Resistance base and into the General’s quarters.

 

“The HoloNet News,” he supplies, “Galaxy 9, Realtime News, Independent Traders’ Infonet, Center Sphere flimsinews, and then there’s the  _official_ press, the First Order Progressi–”

 

“Yes, alright,” Rey grumbles, then takes a moment to gape at him when he offers a calm shrug, as if to say,  _‘hey_ you  _asked’_ , because the gesture is so reminiscent of his father that it makes her heart  _ache…_  but she shakes herself out of that memory; she needs to focus, because Leia is speaking.

 

“You’re back,” she says, voice wavering with emotion, “you’re back, Ben, and I never want you taken from me again… and in order to make  _sure_ that doesn’t happen, we need to figure out how to spin this.”

 

_Now_ Ben meets Rey’s anxious gaze, and the look he gives her is that of a man completely at peace, his long arm firm around her waist, his thumb brushing the divot in her dimpled cheek; his deep voice is steady when he replies: “Tell ‘em I’m a traitor… tell ‘em I was a spy… tell ‘em I did it all for love… tell ‘em whatever you want, mom… I don’t really give a kriff.”


	22. "How exactly do you misplace a baby, Ben?"

**"How exactly do you misplace a baby, Ben?"**

 

“How was I supposed to know she’d just… teach herself to crawl, just like that?” he huffs, arms crossed, “I swear, Rey, I onlyclosed my eyes for a  _second_ –” **  
**

 

“Well, she is  _our_ daughter, isn’t she?”

 

Rey– still clad in her bathrobe, hair wet from the ‘fresher– is trying not to laugh; he can see it in the way her lips keep twitching, before she pulls them back down into a serious frown, and the way she keeps turning her head away from him, shoulders shaking.

 

“This isn’t funny, Rey! I lost our kid– I’m not fit to be a parent.”

 

“Oh,  _Ben_ ,” she says, crossing the room and raising up onto her toes to brush a soft, reassuring kiss across his scarred cheek, “it’s okay, really– she can’t have gone far… unless… you don’t suppose she’s figured out how to open doors as well?”


	23. “So Rey...” Ben rubbed the back of his head, his puppy-brown eyes looking up at her sheepishly. “Remember that fake-wedding we had for the play? Turns out it was a real minister, so... funny story... we’re actually married.”

**“So Rey...” Ben rubbed the back of his head, his puppy-brown eyes looking up at her sheepishly. “Remember that fake-wedding we had for the play? Turns out it was a real minister, so... funny story... we’re actually married.”**

 

Rey had to squint to see him, what with the bright lights shining down on her, but she suspected– from his tone and his body language– that he might be about to cry; this was unacceptable, she hated to see him cry, except when he was on-stage with her.

 

“Huh,” she said, with a bemused chuckle, moving stage left and descending the small set of steps at its edge so she could join him in the auditorium, “That certainly adds another layer to the play, doesn’t it?”

 

“Does  _Romeo and Juliet_ really  _need_ another layer?” he asked, cringing.

 

Taking a moment to ponder that, she flicked the long red locks of her wig over her shoulder, and smoothed her hands down the front of her kirtle. “Well, in any case… we always planned to do it eventually, didn’t we?”

 

“You’re not…mad?” he asked, and his voice was so full of surprise, and wonder, that Rey could not help but take him by the hand and lead him back to her dressing room, and show him how very, very  _not_ mad she was about it. 


	24. "I wish you wouldn't."

**"I wish you wouldn't."**

 

“But I need to, sweetheart. I need it.”

 

“You put it back right now, Ben Solo.”

 

“C’mon, Rey, you have a dozen more of them.”

 

“I don’t care… that donut, it belongs to  _me_.”


	25. In hindsight, it shouldn’t have been a surprise they were expecting twins.

**In hindsight, it shouldn’t have been a surprise they were expecting twins.  
**

 

In hindsight, they should have realized that becoming first-time parents to not one but  _two_ babies would be an exhausting but incredible endeavor.

 

In hindsight, they should have known that hiring a babysitter– thank you, Grandma Leia– sixteen months after the babies had been born would  _still_ be too soon for them, that most of their time at Poe Dameron’s Halloween house party would be spent drunkenly crying on each other, blubbering over how much they loved and missed little Breha and Beru.

 

In hindsight, they really should have foreseen that they would collapse in a passed-out pile– still in their bedraggled costumes, Hades the unconscious god of the underworld and his queen, a loudly snoring Persephone– on Poe’s couch, while the party raged on around them.

 

In hindsight, they  _definitely_ should have guessed that after phoning Leia to ask if she could stay the night with the twins, they would end up fucking, hungry and buzzed and so, so in love– in Poe’s guest bedroom.

 

And in hindsight– really, this one was the most laughably self-evident of all– it should have come as no shock to anyone that when twins showed up on the ultrasound in Doctor Holdo’s office a few months later, a boy and a girl, that Rey and Kylo would swing from panic, to acceptance, to joy; and that they would agree, at first secretly and later with ink on the newborns’ birth certificates, to name them after the two people who helped bring about their existence… Poe, and Leia.


	26. Rey stared at her arch-nemesis Ben Solo, the genius who just trapped them in a supply closet with a busted lock, a floor above where anyone could hear them.

**Rey stared at her arch-nemesis Ben Solo, the genius who just trapped them in a supply closet with a busted lock, a floor above where anyone could hear them.**

 

He was only  _technically_ her arch-nemesis, seeing as he’d been assigned with offing her in the game of Office Assassin currently raging within First Order Enterprises; but that was still enough to make her grip her stuffed porg tightly to her chest– it was her safety object, which rendered her unkillable– and squint up at his stupid, oddly handsome face with suspicion. **  
**

 

“You can’t kill me, I’ve got my porg,” she said, eyeing the plastic red lightsaber in his massive paw of a hand– his weapon, with which he was required to strike her down. “And you’re not  _my_ target… so  _now_ what, hotshot?”

 

“I left my phone on my desk,” he groaned, his pale face going even paler, “and I told Hux I was going out for lunch; do you have yours?”

 

“…It’s in my purse.”

 

His eyes darted between her porg and his toy lightsaber a few times, before finally, hesitantly, flitting back up to her face. “We could… talk… to, y’know, pass the time.”

 

Sighing, she reached for his tie and pulled his big dumb body close to hers until she was caged in by him, pinned against the supply closet wall; then she continued pulling, until he leaned down, and his soft full lips made contact with hers.

 

“I’ve got a better idea,” she muttered, and was gratified when, after he’d gotten over his initial surprise at her temerity, he was inclined to agree.


	27. "He doesn't use that name anymore."

**“He doesn’t use that name anymore.”  
**

 

“It’s okay, milaya,” he murmurs, pulling his grey-haired Irenushka into his lap, clasping her fine-boned hand in his, as he stares into the determined eyes of his oldest son. “Explain to me, Smyrnoi, why you want to name the boy Kyril.”

 

His son sighs deeply, and Venya spares a glance up at Irena. Her pretty face– not as round-cheeked and youthful as it used to be, but still freckled, still the most beautiful thing he has ever seen in his life– is pointed down at him, and her hazel eyes are clouded with unspoken emotion.

 

“It’s to honor you, dad, and what you did in Russia… you were  _Kyril_  when you freed yourself from the mafia, and we want to honor  _Kyril_ , for giving us our life here in Eureka.”

 

Irena buries her face in Venya’s silver and sable locks. He can feel the tears that have begun to spill over; he strokes her back in soothing circles, humming when he feels her lips pressed to his temple. Then he nods at his son, so overcome that he finds he is incapable of speech.

 

“Kyril Smyrnovich Smith,” says Irena, sounding strained, but proud, so proud of their son who is Venya’s spitting image, who has grown up to be a good man, like his father, “ …that sounds like a fine name, to me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one is set [many years] after the epilogue of another story i wrote, [_**go i know not whither and fetch i know not what**_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481504/chapters/33453111). i think all you really need to know about that one to understand this, if you haven't read, is that venya = redeemed russian ben solo, and irena = rey!


	28. “So, what can I get you to drink?” Rey asks. “Does beer or a cocktail interest you?”

**“So, what can I get you to drink?” Rey asks. “Does beer or a cocktail interest you?”**

 

Outside, Ben can hear the Ewoks of Bright Tree Village. He knows if he were to return to the balcony which encircles the massive redwood where Rey’s lofted hut resides, he would see them reveling outside their homes, and many meters down below, on the forest floor. He saw carved pumpkins everywhere on his way up to her hut, and the mouth-watering aroma of their annual Hallowe’en feast hangs in the air, savory and spicy.

 

“You’re not in costume,” he says, nervous, tipping his chin towards her simple linen attire, “the Ewoks can’t be happy about that.”

 

“I make a mean Shesharilian vodka and blumfruit juice mixer,” she replies, paying no mind to his observation as she turns towards a shelf by the hearth, on the far end of the hut.

 

He shrugs, discontented and doubting his decision to come here; stepping back out onto the balcony, he leans over its wooden balustrade. Sure enough, the Ewoks– dressed up as ghosts and hanadaks, Jedi knights and scarecrows– are drinking and dancing around their fires. Merry music drifts among the towering redwoods, and from somewhere far away, a young Ewok exuberantly cries out, _“Hallowe’en!”_

 

“Here,” says Rey, appearing at his side with two glasses of an indigo-colored beverage. “And to answer your question–the Ewoks leave me to my business, and I leave them to theirs.” He takes one of the drinks, and when she raises hers towards him for a toast, he does the same.

 

“What will we drink to?”

 

And then, at last, she meets and holds his gaze. The conflict he thought he’d find there is missing; what he sees instead, what he feels through the ever-present bond, is warm humor, is acceptance, is forgiveness.

 

“Hallowe’en,” she jokes. He wouldn’t be able stop himself from smiling even if he wanted to, but before he can reply, she sobers, saying: “No, I mean it. To Hallowe’en. Not this one, though… the next one.”

 

He clinks his glass with hers, then looks back to the carousing Ewoks. “Will you wear a costume,  _then…_  if I’m still around?”

 

“ _We’ll_ wear costumes, Ben,” she tells him. “And you will be.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oops i completely broke the five-sentence rule [even worse than in any of my other drabbles!]
> 
> but in my defense...
> 
> HALLOWE'EN! [yes, it's a **real thing in canonverse star wars!]**


	29. [slightly NSFW] The Sith were no wiser than the Jedi.

**The Sith were no wiser than the Jedi.  
**

 

_But then,_  thought Kylo, as he prowled the perimeter of the empress’s boudoir, satisfied when he saw nothing of note from any of its high, narrow viewports except for the passing of deep space,  _Rey knows that all too well._ **  
**

 

It was not merely the Dark Side nor the Light from which she drew her indefatigable strength; it was  _both_. She accepted both. She embraced both.

 

“You’re nervous, Lord Ren,” she noted lightly, from the stool in front of her vanity, where a floating servant droid applied paint to her pretty face while she oversaw its efforts in the mirror. 

 

Her velvoid gown clung to her slim frame, its train flowing behind her into a fathomless pool of luxe black fabric; its crimson cortosis breastplate and armored sleeves shone in the chamber’s low light. By the time the droid’s work was finished she was a vision, he had to admit; ornate silver diadem secured atop her noble brow, lips a lush slash of scarlet, face painted alabaster white, the mossy green of her eyes intensified by the thick black kohl that lined them. Like a doll. Like a priceless porcelain doll. One could almost be forgiven for mistaking her severe beauty for fragility, for weakness.

 

One would come to regret that mistake, of course.

 

Still, he liked her bare face better. Upon reflection, he supposed it might be because her earthy natural beauty was only ever seen by  _his_ eyes. He felt possessive of it, her true face, as one does a treasured secret. No other soul in the galaxy knew that the empress’s nose and cheeks sported a smattering of freckles, from years spent in servitude on a desert planet. None knew how her soft brown eyelashes fluttered, when he did that thing with his tongue. None knew the ruddy color of her natural lips, after she’d been kissed senseless.

 

Her true face belonged to him.  _Only_  him.

 

It was not wrong, what they whispered in her court. The Master of the Knights of Ren was the empress’s attack dog, forever hovering behind her left shoulder, ready to strike should she give the word. A domesticated brute. A weapon she did not need, strong as she was with the Force, but one she nevertheless kept close, and one that she wielded with care, but when wronged– without mercy.

 

He would die for her. He would kill for her. And she knew it.

 

“Come here.” The command, issued in a voice barely above a whisper, was no less imperious for its softness. So he did as he was told, and knelt on bended knee before her. Even positioned thusly, he on his knee and she on her cushioned stool, he towered over her. “What troubles you, Ren?”

 

“It’s nothing,” he rasped out, deep voice roughened by the awful need he felt, when near her. Lust. Love. Fear. Devotion. He would spend the rest of his life before her like this, if she permitted. If she wanted.

 

“Ah.” Her thin, clever fingers buried themselves in his sable tresses, tugging until he lifted his head from its bowed position to return her gaze. “The usurpers, is it? Let them come, Lord Ren. Let them do their worst. I have the Force, and I have my Knight. They cannot touch me.”

 

“Yes, m’lady.”

 

“And we shall be ready,” she trailed off, and gifting him with a smirk– only for him, that smirk was  _his_ , he would do anything for that smirk,  _anything_ – she reached for the thick buckle on his heavy belt. “But in the meantime, I must tend to my Knight.” Lifting his heavy quilted tunic and undoing the fastenings of his trousers, she reached within, and took him in her hand. “I cannot have you nervous during the ceremony, Ren. You must be calm. Focused.”

 

With that, she began to stroke, and already– her small hand hot on his flesh, the friction divine– he felt himself coming undone. How he loved her, the ruler of his body and his mind.

 

_No,_  thought Kylo, sagging against her slender body, his massive frame dwarfing hers as he nuzzled the silky soft skin of her neck,  _both the Sith and the Jedi would reject this, this covenant my empress and I have formed._

 

Too soft, too full of tenderness and love for one side. Too carnal, too needy, too avaricious for the other.

 

_Fools, the lot of them,_  he thought. And as if Rey had overheard his thoughts, and approved, she did that thing with her thumb, knowing full well how it destroyed him every time. He gave up all pretense of reason and logic then– shuddering, panting against her skin, eyes squeezed shut, a tongue darting out to taste her– and he surrendered himself to this. To pleasure. To love.

 

To her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooh boy this one ran a little long but sometimes an idea/world is just not going to be done the justice it deserves in 5 sentences, y'know?


	30. This, Kylo thought to himself, was his comeuppance for indulging the sand rat.

**This, Kylo thought to himself, was his comeuppance for indulging the sand rat.**

 

_I’ve always wanted to go swimming,_  she’d said, brows raised hopefully;  _I never got to bathe at all my whole life on Jakku,_ she’d said, with a hangdog little pout;  _I spent so long all by myself, Kylo, and there was no one to have fun with,_  she’d said, sorrowfully blinking her long dark lashes up at him. **  
**

 

And Kylo– who had promised her that she would never want for anything ever again– had given a defeated sigh, and nodded, and bit back his smile when she flung herself at him.

 

And so now here he was, trying to locate Rey beneath the dark water– shivering at the bottom of a waterfall on the jungle planet Felucia, a deluge of frigid water roaring down, splashing at his back– while his poor balls crawled their way up into his body and his flesh pebbled with goosebumps.

 

Bracing himself to dive into the biting waters and retrieve her, he took a deep breath, when suddenly… a splash, from behind him, then a feminine body molding itself to his, warm and wiry with muscle and unmistakably  _her_  (just as naked as he was, and he could feel the soft press of her breasts against his back as she climbed him like a tree, her lithe arms twining themselves around the base of his neck, cool lips pressed to his cheek).

 

“Thank you,” she whispered, before nuzzling her nose against the underside of his jaw, and… Kylo could not recall why he’d been so annoyed, after that.


	31. "Don't apologize... I'm glad it was you."/ [NSFW] Violent weather seemed to be their moments of serenity.

**"Don't apologize... I'm glad it was you."**

 

Ben needs a second to puzzle that one through; after all, his apology had just been a reflex, it’s not like he’d intentionally barged into his crush’s darkened dorm room while bumbling his way down the unlit corridor… it was just an accident, really. **  
**

 

Her faces glows by the light of the giant scented candle on her desk, and she’s got a massive book in her hands (Chemistry… she’s studying, god dammit, even in a blackout, with an insane thunderstorm raging outside, she’s  _still_ studying, could she be any more perfect? Could he love her any more?) but he doesn’t want to be creepy, it’s just a crush,  _really_ , so he grips his own Philosophy textbook tighter, and takes a step backwards into the corridor.

 

“Wait!” she cries, then bites her lip, a blush pinking up her cheeks.

 

A truly staggering bolt of lightning forks itself across the dark sky, lighting up her window; Rey glances back at it, then to him, but he doesn’t know what to say, can only raise one questioning eyebrow.

 

“D’ya wanna… I don’t really like storms, would you want to… um, study… together?”

 

Thankfully, his relieved sigh is hidden by a deafening clap of thunder; before it’s even finished rumbling he has settled himself on her bed, and she joins him, and their textbooks remain open on their laps, her door stays ajar, but somehow their hands still find each other in the semi-darkness, and later, their lips do too.

 

* * *

 

  **Violent weather seemed to be their moments of serenity.  
**

 

And oh, how violently did the storm rage outside their basement apartment– the snow had piled up and over the tiny clerestory windows hours ago, long before the power went out; and oh, how serene it was inside– tea candles casting a fuzzy orange glow over their secondhand furniture, huddled under three layers of homemade knitted blankets on their sagging couch.

 

“Think we’ll still have finals this week?” asked Rey– sipping at the chicken soup they’d thrown together on the gas stove– as she settled more comfortably in his lap.

 

“Not if there’s no power,” Ben said, and wrapped his arms tightly around her waist, tugging her back into his body.

 

“Mmm, no power, no finals, two feet of snow… what’re we gonna do with all the free time we’ll have?”

 

Rey felt a big warm hand slide across her belly, beneath her sweatpants and underwear, then gently trace along her folds, and in her ear, a hoarse command: “I’ve got a few ideas–finish your soup, Rey, and I’ll share ‘em with you.”


	32. “I think it was just meant to be.”

**“I think it was just meant to be.”**

 

Their bodies are flush, his and hers, and he looks down at her with a sheepish grin, while around them, their respective pets– his massive midnight-black german shepherd, and her fluffy little orange-and-white corgi– run in circles, ensnaring them ever-tighter in the lasso of their leashes. **  
**

 

She blushes, laughing nervously, her delicate hands flat against his chest; he’s seen her here at the dog run so many times, his novel forgotten in his lap while he alternated between keeping an eye on Kylo and stealing glances at her, as she threw an old tennis ball for her own dog.

 

But when he’d hoped for an excuse to talk to her, he hadn’t quite envisioned it would go like this: that he would apologize, and then she would, that he would step on her words, and she on his, and that they would both then halt awkwardly, each trying to give the other space to speak, before she’d blurt out something about… was that…  _‘meant to be?’_

 

“You… do?” he asks, leaning in, hopeful.

 

And she laughs again, but it’s more assured this time; then she nods, thumbs smoothing over his sweater-covered pecs in a way that is very deliberate, very distracting, before concluding: “Y’know… I really, really do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> inspired by [this](https://youtu.be/fPzL3UGDHak?t=138) scene from 101 dalmatians XD


	33. [NSFW] "My name is Ben, and I'm an addict."

**"My name is Ben, and I'm an addict."**

 

She’s lying supine, heels dug into his tensed lats, each thigh clutched in his massive hands, and his lips, his cheeks, they’re shiny and slick from her; she might laugh at his proclamation, if he hadn’t just wrung her out completely, muscles still spasming– the last throes of her orgasm– despite the onset of loose-limbed lethargy. **  
**

 

“There are worse things in life to be addicted to,” she teases, toeing at the elastic waistband of his boxer-briefs, which– as a result of his grinding against the mattress– has ridden up his torso, “as long as I’m your only source.”

 

He snorts, murmuring into her inner thigh, “S’pose I’m a snob that way–only the purest, highest-grade shit for me.”

 

“Ben,” she says, overcome by a sudden pang of neediness, possessiveness, vulnerability, “say it–promise me I’m your only source, I’m the only one you do this with.”

 

The look he shoots her is inscrutable, and draws on for what feels like forever, but finally, he crawls up her body and settles on top of her, his cock nestled against her folds, bellies touching, her tits squashed by his solid torso; when he leans down, warm puffs of his breath tickle the sensitive skin right below her ear, and then he whispers, voice guttural and low: “You know you are, Rey **…** one taste of you, and it was all over for me.”


	34. Rey didn’t even know what this convention was about: she was here for the free coffee and food.

**Rey didn’t even know what this convention was about: she was here for the free coffee and food.**

 

The senior year shuffle, she and her boyfriend had taken to calling it: they’d show up in business casual attire, sit through the lectures and the panels, the powerpoint presentations and the Q&A’s, then pocket as much loot as they could carry out of the student center without getting caught.

 

Rey had even stooped to bringing tupperware containers. Pride? She didn’t know her.

 

“You keep treating those muffins like an all-you-can-eat buffet, and the convention organizers are going to notice you,” said a deep voice from close behind her– catching her mid-transfer of said blueberry muffins into a ziploc bag– so she half-turned, scrunching her nose up at him.

 

“Who’s gonna report me, you?”

 

Ben quirked an eyebrow, then crouched down to feign tying his shoe, which left his open backpack at the perfect height for her to drop in the now-stuffed baggie.

 

“Never,” he said, once she’d dropped the pay load. Rising and brushing a soft kiss across her lips, he murmured, “Partners in crime, remember?”

 

Her heart fluttered– God how she loved him– just as his stomach let out a loud, gurgling growl.

 

With a grimace, and one final kiss, Ben took her hand in his, adding under his breath, “Just don’t forget to hit up the sandwich station.”

 

“On it, partner.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ i gave up on keeping this one to 5 sentences haha


	35. It would be the perfect end to her night if the asshole in the black turtleneck decided to press charges./"I'm not explaining anything to you."

**It would be the perfect end to her night if the asshole in the black turtleneck decided to press charges.**

 

And turtleneck looks like he might, with the dark glower he’s sending her way; a massive monolith of a man, sable mane brushing his wide shoulders, face somewhere between a rock wall and a rose garden, dark hawk eyes narrowed as he speaks in hushed tones with the police officer who’d shown up after she’d unknowingly tripped the silent alarm. **  
**

 

But he doesn’t; the officer tips his hat at turtleneck, eases himself back into the patrol car, and disappears into the night… and turtleneck approaches her, seated on the living room settee where he’d deposited her after catching her red-handed,  _literally_ , one fisted hand full of the rubies she’d been sent to steal still inside his bedroom safe.

 

As if this night wasn’t already fucked, as if it wasn’t bad enough that she’d been blackmailed into burglarizing this menacingly handsome man’s massive estate, and been so terrible at it she’d gotten caught– his lips twitch, those keen eyes narrow, and in a deep, throaty rumble, he says, “Told ‘em you were drunk, forgot to key in the code after you stumbled in from the club.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because,” and here he pauses, plunking himself down next to her on the settee, close enough that he can swing one heavy arm around her shoulders and pull her in close, eyes shining with something Rey thinks might be anticipation, “now you’re in my debt–and you can start making good on that debt right now,  _sweetheart_ , with a fucking explanation.”

 

* * *

 

**“I’m not explaining anything to you.”  
**

 

“That so?” muses turtleneck, “Not even why you were sent here to steal a handful of worthless fake gems–you are  _aware_ ,” he pauses, eyes flicking down down to her own sweater-clad chest, then back up to her face, “that I only keep them in that safe for sentimental value… aren’t you?”

 

Rey swallows heavily; she wasn’t, and now she’s even less sure than she was two hours ago as to what the hell is going on here. Turtleneck leans in even closer, head tilted, waiting for an answer.

 

“…I was played.”

 

“Yeah, sweetheart, you were.”

 

“Fuck it, then,” is her response, as she pushes herself up from the settee, climbing onto his lap; fingers buried in that dark silky hair, her folded legs snug against his sides, she tugs him close for a kiss, whispering against his lips: “No more being played–now it’s  _my_ turn to play.”


	36. [NSFW, A/B/O] “And then in the end, I found you.”

**“And then in the end, I found you.”**

 

She’s locked onto his knot, his cock pulsing forth a prolonged orgasm against her cervix, the slippery sweat-dampened flesh of his belly and chest flush against her own sodden back and posterior, and– given that they’ll be here for some time, inextricably attached as they are right now– Ben has been telling her the story of his life. **  
**

 

“Lucky you,” she murmurs, eyes drooping closed, feeling fucked out and satiated and the kind of sun-baked sleepiness that usually comes from a long summer afternoon spent at the beach.

 

Ben feels like her day at the beach,  _and_  her thrilling dive into the ocean; she knows, given enough of this– this visceral and spiritual connection, the way his hips twisted just right when he was giving it to her here in his bed, the way he licked at her like a starved man, the way he cooked for her and doted on her and listened to her when she showed up at his place, needing  _this_ – he could be her whole world, too.

 

“Mmm,” he hums, dipping his proud nose into the tender juncture between her neck and her shoulder, pulling her body just a little bit closer, arms wrapped up tight around her, one breast secure in the palm of his hand, “your turn–tell me… everything.”

 

She twists her neck far enough to elicit a sweet chaste kiss– so different from the filthy mess of their groins, where he is still going, periodic twitches deep inside and the rich deluge of him and her seeping out around his knot, reminding her of what they are– then she breathes in the musky sweet scents of Alpha and Omega and pheromones and sex, bracing herself, before she opens her mouth, and begins to reciprocate.


	37. "Too much cake."

**"Too much cake."**

 

“Hmm?” comes her husband’s groggy, half-awake response. **  
**

 

It’s her birthday, or at least, it was until an hour ago, and accordingly, Ben baked her three cakes– part of his wedding vows, a promise to make up for all the birthdays that went uncelebrated– and it was sweet, and she’d known without doubt that she’d never love anyone as much as she loves this man, but now it is almost one in the morning, she’s lying awake in bed, heart hammering from all the sugar, and… Rey has regrets.

 

“That last slice was an act of gluttony, and I am being punished,” she whines.

 

He gives a tired snuffle, rubbing his eyes open; with a deep sigh, he’s up and out of the bed, tossing out behind him, “Peppermint okay? I’ll get the kettle going, you find us something to watch on TV.”

 

“I love you. Battlebots?”

 

And she knows he loves her too, knows that this is the real deal, that he’s not going anywhere; she can hear the fondness in his voice when he calls back, from the kitchen: “Whatever you want, birthday girl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> behold: the fluffiest thing i have ever written


	38. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this takes place after the epilogue of [go i know not whither and fetch i know not what](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481504/chapters/33453111) and if you haven't read that, that's okay, just know that venya=ben and you'll be fine, i think

**“This wasn’t part of the plan,”**  moans Smyrnoi, fretful as ever as he takes in the chaos that has erupted in their kitchen. **  
**

 

Hanna rolls her eyes at her twin brother, then checks on their younger sister Kate, who’s sloppily flipping a batch of pancakes; on the other side of the counter one of the older kids, Cassian, laughs at them while holding the top down on the growling old coffee grinder.

 

“Having some issues?” asks a deep voice from the doorway, and Hanna turns to see their dad, sleep-rumpled and bemused, taking it all in: the dusting of flour that coats every inch of the kitchen furniture because Kate insisted she could open the bag on her own, the burned batches of pancakes piled like toxic hockey pucks on the table, the two dropped eggs– from when Kel and Eila, the newest additions to the family, fought over who should get to crack them for the omelet– now smeared across the wooden floor from the kids’ feet, and the result, an overcooked bowl of scrambled eggs which they insisted was an omelet, growing cold on top of the fridge.

 

From behind him, Eila lets out a nervous whimper; Venya pats her hair reassuringly, then turns to Kate, who dimples up at him with a beaming gap-toothed smile and exclaims, “We’re making breakfast for mommy ‘cuz it’s her birfday!”

 

Venya bites the inside of his cheek in that way he does when he wants to laugh but knows he shouldn’t, Hanna knows the expression because she’s eleven now and she does it at school, sometimes.

 

“Alright.” Rolling up his sleeves then stepping into the kitchen, he places a large hand on Smyrnoi’s shoulder and gives it a light squeeze, adding, “No panicking, troops, we can still turn this around.”


	39. "That is a terrible, horrible, incredibly foolish idea. Let's do it and see what happens."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is another one set in the post-epilogue world of [_go i know not whither and fetch i know not what_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14481504/chapters/33453111). hanna and smyrnoi are twins, irena [rey] and venya's [ben] oldest!

**"That is a terrible, horrible, incredibly foolish idea. Let's do it and see what happens."**

 

“Hanna, we  _ can’t _ ,” whines Smyrnoi, anxiety writ large across his face.

 

Hanna dangles the firecracker over the toilet; in her other hand is a lighter, its tiny flickering flame inches from the fuse. “Don’t be such a  _ baby _ –what’s the worst that could happen?”

 

The normally soft, sweet voice of their mother is flinty and sharp when it snaps from the doorway of the bathroom: “Well, you could be grounded until Christmas, for one thing.”


	40. “Does it conduct electricity?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a note for anyone not familiar with the delightful ship WinterShock: it's the pairing of darcy lewis [remember her? the plucky intern played by the gorgeous kat dennings in the first two Thor movies?] and bucky barnes aka the winter soldier. is it crack? oh, it's crack. but i loved it for a long time and some anon left a less-than-nice note for me on tumblr, simultaneously scolding me for writing reylo and praising me for my wintershock fic, then telling me they hoped i'd get back to writing marvel again. which i very well might, some day! who's to say? but it didn't feel great. anyway i got a couple of prompts after that suggesting i do a reylo wintershock au so here we are!

**“Does it conduct electricity?”**

 

The Winter Soldier stares down his long nose at her, plush mouth stern with sullen reticence, eyes shuttered. He heaves a silent shrug, broad shoulders rising and falling in a weary spasm. His long dark hair, which brushes his shoulders, sways with the movement.

 

Rey cracks her gum and flicks her gaze past the solid bulk of his tactical gear-covered body to check on Doctor Tico, but she’s across the lab, wrapped up in a breathless conversation with the Winter Soldier’s only friend, Captain America.

 

 _Finn_ , she reminds herself, _his name is Finn and the Winter Soldier’s name is Ben._ They’re not legends here on Rose’s turf; they’re just men. Men who need Rose’s help with an astrophysical anomaly. Men who have sought them out because of Rose’s reputation in her field for brilliant eccentricity.

 

Big muscly men, one of which is hovering near her desk, staring at her with an intensity the likes of which she has never experienced before.

 

Pushing her glasses up her nose, she offers him a lopsided smile as she reaches for a magnet from the lab fridge– it reads _‘Welcome to Puente Antiguo!’_ in bright rainbow colors– and slaps it onto one of the titanium plates of his prosthetic left arm.

 

“There!” Her hand lingers, prodding experimentally at the plates. “You hungry, Ben?”

 

And although he doesn’t speak– _what kind of trauma must he have been through?_ – he does offer her a timid, hesitant smile back. Followed by an almost imperceptible nod.

 

“What are you thoughts on Pop Tarts?” she asks, petting the arm. Without warning, he snatches at her hand, frowning as fingers metallic and flesh lace together. Lost. He looks lost, and confused. “I toast a mean Pop Tart. How do you feel about that?”

 

“Good,” he croaks, low and ragged– the first word he’s spoken to her since he and Finn stormed into the lab half an hour ago.

 

 _Now we’re getting somewhere,_ she thinks.


	41. "Why? Why not?"

**"Why? Why not?"**

 

“Why  _ not _ ?” echoes Rey, staring at him, lips pursed with incredulity. “Ben–you can’t be serious–we can’t do…  _ that _ .”

 

“You aren’t curious, at all–where the limits are, to the bond?” Ben gives her a pointed look.

 

“Force bonds aren’t for sex!”

 

“Huh,” he replies– not quite amusement in his features, but not quite his usual stern glower; he hovers between laughing and scolding. “Didn’t realize you were already an expert.”

 

“I–I–” Her mind is flooded with reasons why not– they’re enemies, for kriff’s sake, and someone from the Resistance could walk into her bunk at any moment, and this isn’t how this  _ goes, _ in her daydreams of them together– but he reaches for her, just a gentle stroke of the back of his knuckles down the length of her arm, and Rey mutters–

 

“Oh, screw it… might as well, right? Why not?”


End file.
